Calhoun Won't Rule Out Coaching Again

His Health Improving, Says He Would 'Never Say Never'

NEW YORK — — Jim Calhoun, sitting back in a soft leather chair, his legs crossed, shot out an answer few would have expected. Would he ever consider "un-retiring?"

"Well, I would never say never," Calhoun told Michael Kay, host of Center Stage, during a taping of the YES Network interview show in Manhattan Monday. "… It would have to be the right situation."

After the 75-minute taping, Calhoun, 70, who retired in September after 26 seasons as UConn men's basketball coach expanded on his current thinking in an interview with The Courant. He had spinal surgery last February, coming back to the job in March to finish the season, and he had surgery to repair a fractured hip after a cycling accident in August. In between, Calhoun revealed, he had surgery in May to remove a growth from his lung that, doctors were concerned, could be cancerous.

Asked later if the growth was cancerous, Calhoun told the Associated Press, "It was cancer-related, yes. "I'm not going to talk about it. I was out for a day and a half. I'm completely healthy now."

"So that's three surgeries," Calhoun said. "It took a toll on my body, and in September, I was tired. … The energy level I feel right now is different."

Calhoun, who had prostate cancer in 2003 and skin cancer twice, said the most recent issue was found during a routine CAT scan, and there have been no problems since. In recent weeks, although he is still using a cane, he clearly looks to be feeling better and he is looking for things to do. He has been at many practices and all of UConn's games, in Germany and the Virgin Islands, and will remain in New York to see UConn play NC State at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.

And he recently had a chat with Larry Brown, 72, who has returned to coaching this season at SMU.

"Do I think I will be coaching somewhere next year? No," he said. "I don't think my wife would let me. … But you know me, I have no filter."

He misses some aspects of coaching, he said, but not "all the other stuff" that goes with it, and those off-the-court responsibilities make it unlikely he would coach again.

During the 75-minite taping with Kay, which will air on YES sometime in January 2013, Calhoun covered his entire life, from losing his father at 15 to the recent academic problems that plagued the UConn program he built into a national power. At one point, Kay asked if there was anything he would do differently if he had the chance, and Calhoun said he would try to show people the different sides of his personality.

He seems more willing to open up now, and says he is mulling over various media opportunities. Calhoun left his home in Pomfret at 7 a.m. and fought the traffic from New Haven on, barely making it for his 10 a.m. sit-down with Kay, yet his thoughts sprang from one topic to another, during and after the taping.

Calhoun remains optimistic about UConn's athletic future, despite the rejection by the ACC last week.

"I still think there will be four or five major conferences," Calhoun said, "and UConn will be in one of them. I am one of the true believers, I believe they will want what UConn has to offer."

Calhoun was reminded that UConn was not among the first choices to join the Big East when it was formed, but was invited after other schools, such as Holy Cross, declined. "It doesn't matter if you're the second choice, of the third or fifth school to get in," he said.

However, he is concerned about UConn's basketball future in the Big East, fearing it will become a conference that gets far fewer NCAA Tournament bids than it has. "We finished ninth in the Big East and we won the national championship [in 2011]," he said. "Something like that might not be possible in the future."

Calhoun strongly supports his successor Kevin Ollie, and is becoming increasingly worried about the effect of his short-term contract on UConn's recruiting.

Kay asked Calhoun about his relationships with various coaches, and asked if he thought Geno Auriemma could be successful coaching men's basketball.

"I would like to see him try it," Calhoun told Kay. "With what he does with his players, he does some great things, yes, he could. He's a magnificent basketball coach. He has that swagger, the way he truly understands the game, I think it would be interesting."

Afterward, Calhoun expressed fond memories of Rick Majerus, who died this past weekend at age 64. Majerus and Calhoun were often part of a group of coaches that met in the off-season and discussed X's and O's.

"He was a hard guy not to like," Calhoun said. "And I didn't want to like him, because he was more of a techie than a motivation guy, although you couldn't win as much as he did without being a motivator, too. He would get up and talk about basketball and you would think he should be talking about physics. He was a fascinating guy."

"He had a great heart. I would invite him to the Calhoun Classic [charity golf event] every year, and he wouldn't be able to come for one reason or another, but I found out he made a donation every year."